The Value Resume and Truth -Can they be reconciled?

[John in Covina]

A recent phenomenon that has come into my life is this Value resume. It grates on my nerves because I was always taught that a person should not boast or brag or be prideful in their speech or correspondence. I am taking some seminars on resume writing and it seems that the resume in fashion is this value style.

It clearly seems that under todays competion it leads the writer to take their truth and stretch it to an area of superlative that is not well, factual. Truth is a casualty being treated ike a rubber band, stretched to the snapping point. Now the companies expect and request this style but at the same time a report at the seminar said that 80% or more companies believe that these resumes are filled with untruths.

Does anyone have thoughts on the aspects of the modern resume in the value style versus the values of the past?

 

[Guttersnipe]

To be clear, while the tone and accepted stylistic format has changed over time, the point of cover letter, resumes and letters of recommendation has always been to "sell" an employer on the notion that a particular individual is the best candidate for a job. Just as marketing has evolved over time and become much more sophisticated (read: specifically targeted and scientific), so has "personal marketing."

The classic one-page hardcopy resume was designed for a specific era/environment. It simply stated facts an employer would find useful for determining whether an applicant was a good candidate for an interview. As such, it all it need to do was list material facts like education, previous employment, etc. Because of the nature of delivery required a modicum of effort (i.e., mailing of hand delivering it), the assumption could be made that the applicant was 1) familiar with the employer and, 2) local.

In the Internet age, it's all too easy to shoot off resumes to scores of employers daily. In such an environment, classic style resumes can easily be mistaken for boilerplate semi-spam applications. Hence the so-call valued-based resume. In its true form, it ought to be sufficiently narrow in scope to demonstrate exactly why the applicant is the exact best choice for that specific position. In its best form, the value-based resume will hook the hiring person to the point where they find themselves thinking, as they look at other resumes: "why am wasting my time looking at all these other resumes when that one candidate was so perfect for the position?" The value-based resume will also be specifically tailored such that it's clear to the reader that the applicant spent time drafting especially for the job being applied for (which demonstrates genuine interest and effort on the part of the applicant). Part of this process also includes painting yourself in a positive light, which is not the same as being disingenuous.

All of that said, including even an ounce of falsehood in any resume is strictly taboo, and always grounds for justified termination upon discovery. I'm not sure who was giving this seminar, but if they are telling you 80% of companies assume resumes are filled with untruths, I would assume the same about them . . .

 

[CharleneC]

A recent phenomenon that has come into my life is this Value resume. It grates on my nerves because I was always taught that a person should not boast or brag or be prideful in their speech or correspondence. I am taking some seminars on resume writing and it seems that the resume in fashion is this value style.

It clearly seems that under todays competion it leads the writer to take their truth and stretch it to an area of superlative that is not well, factual. Truth is a casualty being treated ike a rubber band, stretched to the snapping point. Now the companies expect and request this style but at the same time a report at the seminar said that 80% or more companies believe that these resumes are filled with untruths.

Does anyone have thoughts on the aspects of the modern resume in the value style versus the values of the past?

I'm not clear what a value resume is. Is it one where you intentionally lie?

You seem to think that the true facts of your career are inconsistent with being proud in "speech or correspondence". If you are writing a resume, keep it truthful. The tone of the words won't make them falsehoods. For example, if you were number two in your sales department for three years running, you could not write "was the leading sales person for three years running". But you could write "excelled at sales function for three straight years". As long at that was true and you could discuss it in an interview. If you were second best salesman at a company where the sales department was under achieving, you could not use the word "excelled". Because you did not excel. People who read the resumes know that the language is puffed up. If you go for an interview you will need to be able to discuss every single sentence in your resume and back it up with examples and facts. The manner of description will not make you a liar on a resume. Only you can do that by claiming falsehoods. Nothing hard to understand in that basic concept. Seems like it's your first rodeo! Is your question born of naivete?

 

[LoveMyHats2]

When I was younger, I had a very decent resume and was actually being interviewed for a position. After reading the resume, the employer stated they "would give me an answer in about 15 minutes, that he had one other person to interview, and would I mind waiting"? I said sure. Maybe 35 minutes later I was hired. I asked the employer what made them hire me over anyone else that had applied for the job? The answer was, "because you are the only person in the past two days that had their own ink pen when filling out the questionnaire before I spoke with you"...resumes may not be all that important as what YOU do during a job interview. I asked enough questions to know why I was hired. And later in life as having owned my own businesses, what a person can actually do is what gets them hired. I would never hire someone I was not sure could do the work, and that is only going to come by what they say and do in answering questions and how well they have prepared with experience and education to provide me with knowing they can do the work, have the proper skill set.